Museum of the Mountain Man

The mountain men of Wyoming were after one thing - beaver pelts.The method of removing the fine underfur from a beaver pelt and making it into a dense felt that could be molded into hats was perfected hundreds of years ago. Beaver hats became so popular in Europe that the beavers became almost extinct and by 1670  French, Dutch, and English had established fur trading companies in America to trap the abundant number of beavers found all across the continent. 

As the beavers were depleted in the coastal and mid-west regions, the trappers moved into the isolated valleys along the mountain ranges of the west and thus began the legend of the rough, bearded, solitary man finding his way in the wilderness. In reality most were young, clean shaven (native women did not like bearded men ;D), part of group hired by a trading company, and often traveling with women and children. 

 The rendezvous were the real thing though. For sixteen summers, from 1824 to 1840, thousands of Native Americans, trappers, and fur company traders set up camp in a valley meadow to barter, buy, sell, drink, gamble, and trade stories. Six were held about 10 miles west of the museum. The rendezvous were necessary because it would not have been practical for the trappers, on their own, to transport their furs all the way to the trading company headquarters. Instead the trading companies organized supply trains of pack animals, two wheeled carts, and wagons loaded with new traps, guns, knives, hatchets, beads, blankets, alcohol, tobacco, tin cups, tools, cooking pots and anything else that the Native Americans and traders might find attractive and then carted the pelts back to headquarters in St Louis. The journey covered 1,500 miles one way and opened the route to later travelers. By 1840 silk hats were the top fashion, the beaver trade declined, and rendezvous were no more. 

The museum is very nicely done with many stories of individual mountain men plus artifacts and sculptures. The lower level features paintings of mountain men. 

The museum is accessible with an elevator to the lower level. 

The parking lot is large enough for any vehicle. RVs will fit in the accessible spaces which avoids a roll across the gravel lot. Museum 42.86882, -109.85191